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Monday, June 13, 2016

Alumnus’s project reimagines historic Brooklyn neighborhood

By Melba Newsome

Although
Lindsey McApline (‘90) was pursuing a double major in Business and Psychology
at UNC Charlotte, he always knew real estate development would play an outsized
role in his professional future. “I was actively working in real estate and
anxious to go out in the business world,” he recalls. “I started my first
development company between my junior and senior year in college.”

Lindsey McAlpine

Fast
forward a quarter-century and the former UNC Charlotte alumni president has
made his mark in the development world. Yet, McAlpine feels his biggest and
most personal project is just around the corner. As the managing partner of
Citisculpt, an urban mixed-use developer working exclusively in the Carolinas,
McAlpine is now one of three developers vying to revive and redevelop the
Second Ward community once known as Brooklyn. The Mecklenburg County Commission
will make the selection.

“This
is the most impactful project in Charlotte in my generation,” says the
Charlotte native. “It’s an opportunity to rebuild a historic legacy and to
build nearly the whole quadrant of the Second Ward.”

Second
Ward is currently dominated by the city’s government quarter, the courthouse,
the no-longer used Board of Education offices and the rarely-used Marshall
Park. Fifty years ago, the area was home to about 1,000 African-American
families. The community was razed as part of the kind of urban renewal plans
that swept through the country during the 1960s and 70s. Residents, who had no
say in the matter, were supposed to be relocated to federally-funded public
housing that never materialized. The families, largely left to their own
devices to find housing, were dispersed to the city’s poorer neighborhoods
surrounding the city center. The treatment left deep scars with those who lost
their homes, neighborhood and community.

In
large part, the kind of urban renewal projects that displaced urban, minority
communities and wiped out a city’s character and history have largely been
discredited. Now, development and gentrification tend to focus on, if not
preserving the past, at least giving a nod to it. Redeveloping the Second Ward
is no doubt a tricky project since it contains so many moving parts, including
reimagining Marshall Park.

One concept for Brooklyn Village presented by CitiSculpt.

McApline
has worked to keep all these elements in mind throughout every step of his
design process. The group researched the area’s history and the stories of
people who had lived there in order to understand the best way create a
positive and inclusive legacy. He believes CitiSculpt’s community outreach sets
it apart from the other two competitors. “We are absolutely committed to
hearing what all the stakeholders want in this design and it’s extremely
important to hear the community’s input about this design.”

CitiSculpt
has put together a team with the kind of unique experience necessary to bring
its vision-- up to 1,378 residential units along with hotels, retail space and
offices -- to fruition. Prominent architect and former mayor Harvey Gantt
essentially came out of retirement to lend his insight and vision to this project.

“There’s
a lot of pain associated with the removal of that community,” says Gantt. “That
is why this development has to be done well and realized. It sends a serious
message to the African-American community that we wanted so badly to restore
the community that we chose the right company to deliver the completion of this
project.”

If
McAlpine is selected, he will be very, very busy for the next 4-5 years. That’s
how long he estimates creating the new Brooklyn will take.

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In the video available through the link below, Lindsey McAlpine and Harvey Gantt discuss the
possible future of Brooklyn Village.

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